by Renee Rose
Though she’d never had any interest in bearing children, a thick longing took over, coating her throat and tugging on her chest, as if some invisible string had been tied around her heart and cinched tight.
“Alyx is six, Ren is five, Teena is three, and Solo was just born. He’s is a product of last year’s breeding season.”
Who was the father? Sankro, their natural leader? Talia eyed the males who took positions in the small hovel, blocking the door, filling the space with their large frames. It seemed all Zandians were much bigger than her. Even Eslyn was larger than Talia, nearly as tall as the males. So, her growth had been stunted from being away from the crystals.
She glanced from the children’s faces to the males, trying to match them.
“We all bred her,” Sankro said, guessing her question. “We are one family. All the children belong to all of us.”
“Have you been hiding here since the Finn invaded?” Tomis asked, plucking a handful of berries from the bowl and offering them to her. “How did you escape?”
“Yes.” It seemed only Sankro spoke for the males. “We were just children, all of us. Our parents hid us in an underground shelter together. Made us promise not to come out until we heard silence for at least three planet rotations. So we waited. It was nine planet rotations before it all stopped. When we came out, no being was left. The Finn sent patrols out in airships for a while, but we hid in the waterfalls. The heat of the water masked our body heat from their sensors, and they never found us. Now, they hardly ever patrol.” His gaze fell on Talia and stayed, again sending a niggling of discomfort through her. “We didn’t know there were any other Zandians alive.”
Tomis dropped a proprietary hand on her shoulder. “There aren’t many, but there’s an enclave of Zandians who escaped the planet during the invasion, including Prince Zander and the king’s master at arms. Zander has spent the last fifteen solar cycles building the means to take the planet back. He would be overjoyed to know any Zandians survived on-planet. Come with us, to his palatial pod.”
They received Tomis’ invitation with about as much enthusiasm as she had, sharing glances she couldn’t read with one another.
Sankro dropped onto a bench made of a piece of wood propped over two stones. He waved them into similar seats around the table. “There are no airships to be flown off-planet. Did you think the Finn left anything of value lying around?”
“There’s a graveyard of old ships a planet rotations’ walk from here. I plan to construct one from the junk there.”
Sankro’s lip curled. “Good luck, friend.”
Clearly he found that plan as lacking as she did, yet his derision brought up a defensiveness in Talia. “Tomis is a trained warrior,” she said. “He knows what he’s doing.”
Sankro grinned. “I wouldn’t be so sure. You’re welcome to stay with us while he tries.” This time, there was no mistaking the leer.
She glanced at Eslyn to see what the other female thought, but the new mother turned her back, bouncing her knees to rock the infant who didn’t require soothing. The other males nodded.
“Talia goes with me,” Tomis said stiffly.
She was one part relieved by his insistence, one part annoyed. He didn’t own her. She wasn’t the prize he got to carry back to his precious prince. She folded her arms over her chest. “I thought I had a choice?”
Tomis startled, shooting her a disconcerted look. “Once we’re off-planet. I’m not leaving you here.”
Sankro’s lips stretched into a thin grin. “So you’re not mated, then?”
She suddenly hated Tomis for not wishing to mate her.
Tomis scowled, the low growl issuing from his throat again. “We are mated.”
She arched a brow. Oh, sure. How convenient for him to call them mated when other males took an interest in her but not wish to claim her for himself.
“Doesn’t look like the female agrees,” one of the other males—Banf, if she remembered right—said. He turned his narrow brown eyes on her. “Do you?”
She folded her arms over her chest, torn between keeping the other males at a distance and setting Tomis straight. “Tomis has other plans for me,” she said stiffly. “But he promised I can choose my own destiny when the time comes.”
“Well, choose it now,” Sankro said, spreading his hands. “Stay here with us. Three males to serve two females. You’ll be treated like a queen.”
She bit her lip to keep from pointing out that their domicile lacked the luxury a queen might expect.
“You can’t stay here,” Tomis interceded, bringing his fist down on the table hard enough to make the bowl of fruit jump. “None of you can. The planet will be at war soon, and we must get the females and young away to safety before it begins.”
It occurred to her that Tomis’ backup plan had been simply to wait until the war started, which would leave her here during it, but she kept her mouth shut.
Again, their hosts exchanged glances she couldn’t decipher.
“We’ll take our chances,” Sankro said. “We’ve survived this long without detection. We know how to stay underground and off their radar.”
Tomis scowled. “Your young are the only Zandian children alive in the galaxy. I cannot, in good conscience, leave them in what could become a war zone.”
Sankro stood and planted both fists on the table, leaning forward into Tomis’ space. “Are you threatening to take my young?”
“No. I wish to take all of you. To safety. To ensure the females and young are not killed when the battles begin.”
Sankro scoffed. “There will be no battles on this side of the planet. The Finn are not here. They are concentrated near the capital, where the crystal is easier to mine. We will take our chances. Talia, you’re invited to stay, if you like.”
She forced a smile. “Thank you, I will consider your offer,” she promised, only to goad Tomis.
“Stay the night here. Both of you. We’ve never had company. It will be nice for the young to see other Zandians,” Eslyn offered.
“We cannot,” Tomis said, but she touched his arm. Maybe, if they stayed, they could convince the group to leave with them.
“Let’s stay, Tomis. I could use the rest.”
Tomis rubbed the back of his neck, his mouth pulling down at the corners.
“Please?” She gave him her best pleading eyes, remembering the power her begging had over him back at the waterfall.
It worked. He gave a weary sigh and nodded. “As you wish.”
He was far more formal with her in front of the others. He didn’t call her starshine or baby. Just as he’d renounce all claim on her when he brought her to his prince.
Damn him.
She stood from the bench, directing her attention to the oldest young. “I think I’d like to go for a walk. Would you like to show me around the area?”
All the young scrambled for the door, talking over each other so that she couldn’t understand any of them. The older female took her hand and tugged her along. She laughed and followed, her wary warrior trailing behind, as if one of the young might harm her.
Let him serve, then. Let him protect her, and take her from Zandia to safety. She wasn’t going to go to his prince, though. She wasn’t the only female of breeding age anymore. There was Eslyn. And her two female young would someday bear young of their own. The entire future of the species no longer rode on Talia’s shoulders.
Hopefully, she and Tomis would convince them to come along, and her warrior could bring them to his prince instead. Perform his duty with a different female.
Why did that idea make her want to run and leap into his arms, beg him to forget about his duty and take her back to the waterfall?
But no. If Tomis wanted to keep her, if he wanted to mate her, he certainly would have asked by now. He’d mastered her, had bred her in every position possible, had demanded her obedience and promised to serve. But this relationship wasn’t about mating.
The sooner she got that throu
gh her head, the better.
~.~
“The hardest thing, at first, was defending against the wild beasts,” Banf said.
They sat in a semicircle around a tiny fire, discussing the difficulties the survivors had faced in living without a shred of technology. All four of them shared the tales, seeming eager to articulate the stories they’d kept to themselves for so long.
Though he suspected Talia had lived through just as much or worse difficulty in her life, she offered sympathetic words and listened with rapt attention. Somehow, she’d become the focal point of the group, the children all gathered at her feet, the adults all vying for her attention.
She deserved every bit of it, but Tomis didn’t like the way the males eyed Talia.
Of course, they’d be affected by breeding season as well, and if their female had just given birth, she probably wasn’t participating in this season. Which meant all their interest fell on Talia.
Veck.
To make it worse, Talia didn’t seem eager to leave. Did she want to be bred by those males?
The thought made him want to dismember them, one by one.
He gazed at her, face lit by moonlight and a small fire, holding Eslyn’s infant. The awe and wonder on her face made him want to kiss her senseless. What if—he hardly dared think it—she bore his young?
Would it be such a terrible thing?
Possibly.
Master Seke would beat him into the ground for losing control with his daughter. A beating he could take. He’d been trained to endure all kinds of discomfort. But would his mentor accept him as a mate for Talia?
Probably not. Though there were few Zandians left. Surely Seke would want a more nobly born male for his daughter. And what if Daneth wished to use Talia as a vessel?
He ground his teeth, the idea of the species’ physician examining or touching Talia turning him downright violent.
He needed to get a grip on his emotions. Talia wasn’t his to claim. And she didn’t even want to be claimed by him. She still resisted leaving the planet with him.
She and the rest of the group. He needed to convince them all to leave for their safety and the continuation of the species. Leaving two females of breeding age, and four Zandian children exposed to danger would be unconscionable.
Chapter Six
Talia woke to the sound of children’s voices. She’d slept with Esylyn and the infant on a soft mattress made of piles of animal furs. She’d attempted to refuse the bed, preferring to sleep outside, under the stars, with Tomis, but their hosts insisted.
In the end, she’d given in, only because she feared she’d beg and plead Tomis to take her again if she slept beside him, and she didn’t want to humiliate herself anymore.
Yes, he’d proven willing to serve her that way, but the more times they bred, the more likely she’d conceive his child and the harder it would be to part from him when the time came.
She heard Tomis’ voice outside, speaking jovially to the children. Stars, it caused her physical pain to hear him. All her life believing she was a human slave, she’d never pictured herself with a family. Humans didn’t get to have families. If they bred, it was surreptitiously, and they were soon parted from their mates or children. Or they were bred by their masters and forced to raise a child of another species. So, she’d never wanted a mate or children. Had believed her life began and died with Thurn.
Now, having glimpsed what a Zandian family might look like, she wanted it with a desperation bordering on insanity.
Of course, it was probably just the crystals and her raging hormones, but knowing that made it no less intense. She wanted a mate. Young.
She wanted Tomis to pierce her with Zandian crystal, swear to protect and keep her forever. And veck if that didn’t make her a pathetic, weak female.
She needed to put some starch in her backbone and get over this male. Today.
The animal-skin curtain hanging in the door separating the sleeping area from the rest of the hovel pulled to the side and Sankro, Banf, and Elit entered.
She sat up, pulling the animal skin to cover her body, though she still wore Tomis’ shirt.
In a flash, Sankro arrived at her side, clapping a huge hand over her mouth and putting a dagger to her throat. “We don’t want to hurt you or the warrior. All you have to do is tell him you’ve decided to stay here with us and send him on his way.”
Veck that. All she had to do was scream, and Tomis would rip the three of them apart.
“If you don’t, we’ll kill your warrior and eat him for dinner. Understand?” He held up the laser gun Tomis had stolen from the guard back at the dungeon.
Ice sluiced through her veins, chilling the very center of her bones.
“Nod if you understand,” Sankro said.
She nodded. He eased his hand off her mouth. “I-if you use that, the Finn will be able to locate us all.” Her words came out shaky and weak. She darted a glance at Eslyn, but the female didn’t look nearly as shocked or outraged as Talia had hoped. Stars, had she been a part of her mates’ devious plan all along?
Tomis’ booming voice carried through the hovel.
“Go and tell him now,” Banf hissed, yanking her off the mattress and up to her feet.
“Remember, if he doesn’t leave, he’s dead,” Sankro murmured against her ear. They both propelled her forward, out of the sleeping quarters.
“G-good morning.” She cleared her throat. Veck. She had to make this convincing or Tomis would never leave her. She squared her shoulders and lifted her breastbone. “I’m not leaving with you.”
Tomis went still, his dark gaze steady on her face. “Talia.”
She held up her hand. “I want to stay here. You can send a ship for me when the battle begins, if you’re worried about that, but I’m not. I’ve been away from the crystals my entire life. I need to stay here.”
“Prince Zander has crystals—”
“I want to stay with them,” she said firmly, knowing her words would strike a blow.
The pain that flickered across Tomis’ face rent her in two, but she steeled herself against her sorrow. Tomis’ life depended on her making him leave.
“You should go.”
He took a step toward her, but she lifted her hand in warning.
“Don’t. It’s better if you don’t. I appreciate what you’ve done for me, but I’ve made my decision. I need you to honor it, as you promised you would.”
Tomis stepped back, his face turning to stone. “I see.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
“I don’t.”
She couldn’t breathe. An enormous boulder pressed down on her chest, keeping the air from rushing in.
Tomis. She closed her lips against the plea. She hated wounding him, hated them parting this way, but she had no choice.
He took another step back then stumbled to avoid stepping on little Teena. “I’m sorry,” he said gruffly, righting the child. “I’ll be back for you all, when the battle starts.” His gaze swept over the crowd of them, solidifying his promise.
“I’ll count on it,” she choked out, throat so tight the words barely came out.
He lifted his fist in the traditional Zandian gesture then bowed and backed out the door.
She rushed forward to stand in the doorway, watching as he jogged swiftly away. As if the sooner he put distance between them, the sooner her refusal would stop stinging.
I’m sorry, Tomis.
Sankro and Banf flanked her, pulling her back inside. “Keep quiet and out of sight,” Sankro said gruffly. To Banf and Elit, he said, “I’ll follow the warrior to make sure he doesn’t circle back. If he does…” He touched the laser gun on his hip.
She covered her mouth with her hand, stuffing her fingers in her mouth to stifle a sob. This was all her fault. She’d let this group see her conflict with Tomis, know that they were already at odds about how far she’d go with them, and she’d given them ammunition to use against him. To separate them.
She had to stop him! She lurched forward, her body ready to fly after Tomis before her brain had thought of a plan. Banf and Elit each grabbed one of her arms and yanked her back. “Let’s tie her up until the warrior has left the planet,” Banf said.
The tight knot around her ribs eased marginally. Banf didn’t seem to think Sankro planned to kill Tomis.
But her relief over Tomis quickly turned to panic for her own plight. The males wrestled her into the sleeping chamber and threw her on her belly, tying her wrists behind her back and her ankles together.
Tomis’ shirt rode up, exposing her bare ass and pussy to the males.
One of them—she couldn’t tell which—ran a finger over the curve of her ass. “He whipped her.” Though her ass no longer hurt, there must still be a faint mark from Tomis’ belt. “I told you that’s how mates master their females. Not with their fists. I remember seeing it on a hologram once.” She couldn’t tell which one of them spoke, but a chill ran through her at the not with their fists comment. Had they hit Eslyn with their fists?
Two hands gripped her ass cheeks and pulled them roughly apart. “I’m going to take her here.”
“Better wait for Sankro. If he’s not first, he’ll beat everyone down.”
She squirmed, attempting to roll away from the assholes. So this was her destiny. Veck-toy for three completely isolated and stunted males. The urge to scream for Tomis rose once more, but she bit the mattress instead, muffling her sob of anguish.
Tomis wouldn’t die today. That was all that mattered.
The rest of this nightmare, she’d survive, one way or another.
~.~
Sankro might think he was stealthy, but he wasn’t. Tomis knew the male had followed him the moment he left their domicile. He didn’t know what they’d done or said to Talia, but it was obvious something wasn’t right. The fact that his laser gun disappeared that morning hadn’t gone unnoticed, either.